McCauley's funeral Friday at the Family Christian Center in Munster, Ind., reflected that mixture of faith and enthusiasm, even as family and friends grieved over her slaying. Police said she was fatally shot Sunday night outside the Chicago branch of the same church by a former boyfriend who then killed himself.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in the church's large auditorium for a short wake and an elaborate service that combined slide shows, spirited singing and eulogies from family members and pastors about the promising young woman.

"Last night my cousin asked me, she said, 'Why aren't you crying?'" said McCauley's younger brother, Brewster III, who spoke at the service. "I answered her that I wasn't crying because I was doing what Mersaides always does: I was smiling."

Peter McCauley, Mersaides' uncle, spoke of her excellence as a student pursuing a master's in business administration, as a businesswoman already succeeding in real estate and stock trading, and as a basketball player for Seton Academy high school in South Holland and Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, Ind.